Wallow Fire: Wildlife also struggling to flee blaze

Rare species, newborn animals are among the creatures in fire's path

The fierce Wallow Fire sweeping through the White Mountains not only has humans on the move, but native and endangered wildlife that thrive in the thick forest habitat are fleeing for their lives.

Elk, deer, antelope, mountain lions, coyotes, birds and fish of many species as well as endangered or threatened animals including Mexican spotted owls, Mexican gray wolves and bald eagles have perished in the flames, said Chris Bagnoli of the Arizona Game and Fish Department. Other large, adult animals may be able to outrun the blaze.

Bagnoli, who lives in Eagar, said animals such as black bears, adult deer, antelope and elk could get ahead of the fire.

"But a female black bear with cubs will likely climb a tree to stay with them and that doesn't work well for survival," he said. "After the Rodeo-Chediski Fire, we found some female bears in trees that hadn't fled and had been burned."

Many other animals with cubs or pups will stay and die with their young, Bagnoli said.

Also unlikely to be able to outrun the fire are smaller animals such as ground squirrels, "that just can't outrun a wall of flame" and many thousands of fish that will suffocate in debris and sediment-choked streams and small lakes.

On Wednesday, animals could be seen moving away from the fire about 10 miles west of Eagar along AZ 260. At one point, hundreds of elk emerged from a smoky area on the edge of the fire, crowding into the large meadows that flank the highway. Deer also could be seen emerging from the smoke.

Of special concern to environmentalists are the Mexican gray wolf and bald eagle.

Mexican gray wolves were released in the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests in 1998.

As of January, officials counted at least 50 wolves in the forest, said Sherry Barrett, Mexican Wolf Recovery coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. That number was up from 42 the previous year; the goal is 100.

Barrett said the wildlife service keeps track of the wolves through a weekly flyover of the area. Many of the wolves wear collars that send a signal to the plane while others have GPS collars that can be tracked through satellite. Since officials have been unable to do their flyovers because of the smoke, they don't yet know what has happened to the packs.

There are 10 packs in the national forest; four were probably unaffected and six are believed to have pups, Barrett said. One pack, called the Rim Pack, was in the Bear Wallow Creek Wilderness, the area where the fire started May 29.

"It burned very hot in that area," Barrett said. "But there is a possibility that the pack had made their den underground and the fire just went right over them."

She said that of particular concern are pups that were born in April and May and are not strong enough to escape the flames.

"Wolves will move pups to a safe area, but if a fire is coming too hot and fast, they will abandon them," she said.

Bagnoli said bald eagles and Mexican spotted owls also may have been affected by the fire.

"Bald eagles could be in for real difficulty depending on whether the nest tree burns," he said. "We have two eagles in the fire area, one at Luna Lake and the other at Crescent Lake, and they are nesting. We don't know if their area has been burned over."

Bagnoli said spotted owls rely on old-growth forest for their habitat and if that burns to the ground, their survival could be difficult.

"They are breeding too, and that is a problem," he said.

Bagnoli and Barrett said that if there was any good news out of the habitat destruction caused by the Wallow Fire, it was possible forest renewal.

"A fire results in a lot of greening up of an area," Barrett said. "That means more elk and deer production, which means more prey available for the wolves."

Cattle ranching and sheep herding are key industries in the White Mountains, and those operations have been scrambling to move their herds out of the way of the Wallow Fire.

Mark Pedersen and his shepherds are "sleeping with one eye open," he said, praying that the giant blaze doesn't come raging through their sheep-shearing camp in a huge meadow rimmed by pine trees about 10 miles from the western edge of the fire.

About seven weeks ago, Pedersen's shepherds began driving two groups of 2,000 sheep from the Sheep Springs Sheep Co. ranches in Chandler, past Apache Junction, across Blue Point Bridge on the Salt River and then across desert and foothills to the Mogollon Rim and, 220 miles later, into the high, cool grasslands of eastern Arizona.

They arrived just days ago at a shearing station - a group of corrals - about 7 miles west Greer, which was evacuated Monday.

Pedersen said on Wednesday he plans to stay at the shearing station with his sheep, but will move farther west if the fire approaches them. He can mobilize his sheep easily for the most part, he said.

"Drives like this have been going on from the Valley to this country for about 100 years," Pedersen said that as a bare sheep emerged from under the shearer's hands and trotted off to a corral. "Coming up here is a way of life."

Pedersen's wife, Candace, is the daughter of Dwayne Dobson, whose family started the company in 1929.

It's a way of life that has almost disappeared.

Fifty years ago, eight Valley outfits drove 12 bands of 2,000 sheep each to spend the summer feeding and breeding in the high country. Now the Dobson company is the only one hitting the trail called the Heber-Reno Sheep Trail Driveway, which was established in 1916.

Sheep herding has been an Arizona industry since the 1870s, and early on, it was discovered that the animals were happier in warmer areas such as the Valley in winter months and in cooler climes in the summer. So a tradition began of moving herds from the Valley in the spring up onto the Mogollon Rim or White Mountains pastures.

Shearers were buzzing the wool from the sheep at the rate of about one animal in five minutes, as Pedersen supervised. He kept raising his head to the horizon where huge plumes of gray smoke loomed over the landscape.

"If the fire gets Greer and keeps coming our way, then we drive northwest from here to grazing land about 10 miles away that we lease from the forest service," Pedersen said. "But if the fire stays away, then we bring in our other herd of 2,000 sheep I have holding up a ways from here. Then they'll all spend the summer grazing this area and breeding.

"In the meantime, we watch the fire closely and hope it leaves us alone."

Rancher Roxanne Knight, who runs Reed's Lodge, a motel in Springerville, with her husband, Galyn, said they didn't have enough time or workers to evacuate their roughly 300 cattle by the time they were advised to leave.

"We had just gotten up there with (the cattle) for the summer, and they were already tired, footsore and thirsty," Knight said. "If your horses and cowboys and trailers are close enough and you get an early start, it's possible . . . but when you have a herd that big, it's not an easy evacuation."

Knight said family members had been making the trip to provide water for the cattle each day until conditions prevented them from reaching the animals Wednesday.

"Even if they survive, they could be damaged by smoke inhalation, develop respiratory problems," she said.

Frequently Asked Questions

Question: When did the fire begin and how?Answer: Fire officials believe an unattended campfire may have sparked the blaze about 1:30 p.m. May 29.

Q: Where does the name "Wallow Fire" come from?A: Fires are usually named after a feature near the start point. In this case, Bear Wallow Wilderness is located in the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests, near where the fire was first reported.

Q: How many structures have been lost?A: Forest Service officials say 11 structures have been lost to the fire.

Q: How many acres has the Wallow Fire burned?A: More than 380,000 acres as of Tuesday.

Q: How large is Wallow Fire compared to other fires across the country?A: The Wallow Fire is the largest active fire in the country, followed by the Honey Prairie Complex Fire in Georgia, which was sparked by lightning and has charred 166,297 acres. In addition, southern Arizona's Horseshoe Two Fire is the nation's third-largest at 106,000 acres.

Q: Historically, what are Arizona's largest wildfires?A: The largest fire in state history was the Rodeo-Chediski Fire, which charred more than 468,000 acres in eastern Arizona. The second-largest was the Cave Creek Complex Fire, which consumed more than 248,000 acres in 2005. The Wallow Fire is the third-largest in state history, followed by the 2004 Willow Fire at 119,000 acres and the still-burning Horseshoe Two Fire.

Q: What is a Type 1 Incident Management Team?A: A Type 1 team consists of highly trained and experienced wildfire personnel, from federal and state levels, specifically outfitted for wildland fires.

Q: What type of equipment is being used?A: As of Tuesday, 2,140 fire personnel were on the ground, utilizing 8 bulldozers, 141 fire engines, 46 water tenders and 20 helicopters.

Q: What types of helicopters are being used?A: There are three types of helicopters. The Type 1 is the heavy-lift helicopter sometimes called a sky crane. It has the ability to dump up to 2,000 gallons of water. Medium-sized helicopters can dump about 500 gallons. Light helicopters are used to move supplies and keep an eye on the fire.